You're reading: Paper: BP plans board seat for Russian

LONDON, Sept 23 (Reuters) - British oil giant BP, which wants to buy a stake in Russian state-controlled rival Rosneft, plans to appoint a prominent Russian to its board of directors as part of a new commercial alliance with the Kremlin, the Sunday Times newspaper said.

Bob Dudley, BP’s chief executive, discussed the plan with
Vladimir Putin last week at a meeting at the Russian president’s retreat on the
Black Sea, the newspaper reported, without citing any sources.

The appointment of a Russian director to BP’s 15-strong
board would be a first in the company’s 104-year history, it added.

BP declined to comment.

Dudley and chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg put a proposal to
buy a stake in Rosneft to Putin on Tuesday, Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin said on
Friday, adding a new dimension to a long-running struggle for control of a big
chunk of Russia’s oil production.